Intermission: The Calm, the Steak, and...

A parliamentary session had just concluded in the Principality of Parche. Accompanied by the chairmen of the two houses, the grand duke returned to his office, sat down in his chair, and let out a deep sigh.

“Grand Duke, you did well to make it through all of that,” the chairman of the House of Representatives said to the visibly exhausted duke.

“Quite...” The grand duke nodded. The multi-hour session had been more than enough to make the man, who was over seventy years old, start considering finding a replacement.

The subject of the parliamentary session, for which every member of the House of Peers and the House of Representatives had been present, had been how to handle the matter of the kingdom of Gracis. The imperial army had traversed Parche territory and attacked Gracis. The kingdom had emerged victorious from the battle, but the fact still remained that the principality had allowed the empire to pass through their territory, straining the friendship between their countries that had taken many years to establish. Thus, they were now desperately trying to mend their relationship with Gracis by any means possible. During the parliamentary session they had agreed to issue a formal apology and lower tariffs for five years, along with a number of other proposals.

In truth, they had been threatened in secret and forced to turn a blind eye, but the only people who knew about that were the three people presently in the room, as well as the head of border security who had received the order. As a result, it had been a rather agonizing meeting for them. Meanwhile, the head of border security had received a disciplinary dismissal—which actually delighted the man himself, as he’d been wanting to retire for some time. After that, he’d happily withdrawn to the countryside.

“But I can’t believe that the minister has...” the only woman in the group, the chairwoman of the House of Peers, mumbled. Her mind went to a topic that had also been brought up during the earlier parliamentary session.

Minister Barbosse, who had once controlled the kingdom that neighboring countries had privately referred to as the Kingdom in Woe, was dead, and all his misdeeds had come to light after that. The chairwoman couldn’t possibly have seen this coming when Parche had first received Barbosse’s secret correspondence. She had been taken utterly by surprise.

At the sight of the House of Peers chairman looking so bewildered, the man who headed the House of Representatives began to speak.

“I’ve got my own thoughts on that matter, by the way.”

“Huh?” The woman furrowed her brow.

The man shrugged in response before continuing.

“The important element here isn’t the fact that the minister lost—it’s the prince who defeated him.”

The prince had not defeated the minister by killing him. According to the official statement from Gracis, the Barbosse had been attacked on the street by some man and died of his wounds. At the same time, it had come to light that the so-called “Tragedy of the Royal Family” was actually an assassination attempt carried out on the orders of the minister himself, and he had committed a great deal of other misdeeds behind the scenes. These accusations had all been accompanied by solid evidence.

And apparently, all this had been the work of a prince a mere seven years old.

“Are you saying that you actually believe a seven-year-old prince could have outsmarted the minister?”

They had also been informed that this very same prince had been responsible for driving away the imperial army. However, the woman suspected that this was just a fabrication intended to garner the support of the people. Just like the Hero of Light, a performance currently popular with the masses, stories about small children getting the better of adults had a tendency to stir the hearts of the people.

“I think His Grace, whose gamble paid off, would be the better judge of that, wouldn’t you say?” the man responded as he turned his gaze to the grand duke.

The grand duke sat quietly for a few moments before solemnly opening his mouth to respond.

“I... think it’s possible.”

The grand duke thought back to the letters he’d received from Perla, who had gone off to Gracis to marry the king. In those letters, she would often write about “her son”—actually the son of the king’s favorite queen, whom Perla had loved like her own little sister.

When Perla had been despondent after losing her first child to the minister’s schemes, in her letters she would always blame herself for failing to protect her daughter and express concern over her ability to protect her son, even as she lamented the state of the kingdom. The grand duke had time and time again urged her to return to Parche, but he had always received the same response: “I can’t leave His Majesty alone.”

But at one point, her letters started to change. As word spread that the king had taken a new queen of his own choosing, a letter arrived from Perla saying that she felt as though she had gained a sister. After that, the contents of her letters became more cheerful and gentle than they were before. The grand duke surmised that her days together with the king’s favorite queen must have healed her heart.

But then one day, the duke received a letter informing him that the queen had lost her life in childbirth. The duke had assumed that Perla would once again turn to despair. However, contrary to his expectations, Perla instead vowed to look after “her son,” as if to take the late queen’s place. Her letters contained detailed descriptions of the day he had taken his first steps, or how he would read books fervently—almost as if he was her own son.

That was why the grand duke had decided to comply with the demands of the secret communication that had been enclosed with Perla’s letter. Part of it had, of course, been the fact that he had had no choice but to do as he was ordered, but he had also held out a faint sliver of hope. Perla would never have offered up the late queen’s son if there was no hope that he would survive.

His gamble had paid off. The boy Perla thought of as her own son had avenged the duke’s late granddaughter.

“I see. Now then... I can’t wait to see how things turn out.” The man nodded once before giving a mischievous grin like that of a young boy up to no good.

“What? The minister is gone, and all the nobles and officials who supported him are currently being sentenced one after another. Surely, Gracis will only grow even more powerful now.”

“Well... I do appreciate your straightforward way of thinking, but aren’t you being a tad simplistic there? Must be nice to be young.”

“Are you insulting me?” The woman raised an eyebrow.

It was true that she was young. While the House of Representatives chose their chairman by vote, the leader of the House of Peers was the head of the most influential noble family other than the grand duke’s own. She was the oldest child of the head of that family. Her father had come down with an illness some years prior and the male heir had not yet come of age, resulting in the oldest daughter acting as interim chairwoman. Despite not yet having turned thirty, she was tremendously capable, with the ability to manage the many nobles of the House of Peers. To her, the man’s words sounded like nothing short of an insult.

“Oh, pardon me,” the man apologized. “I only meant to say that you still lack experience. As you said, with the minister gone, the general atmosphere of the country will probably improve.”

The discontent of the Gracis people had grown significantly under the tyranny of their nobles and officials. With them out of the picture and control of the country once again back in the hands of the royal family, the country and the views of the people would change.

“However, what was once a monolith of a country under the rule of the minister is now seeing cracks form in the shape of this upheaval.”

When the minister had controlled the country it may have been rotting from the inside, but it had protected itself from outside enemies as a cohesive entity, and the minister had also had significant influence outside the country. However, without the minister, that cohesion had started to crumble. It was difficult to imagine anyone used to doing whatever they pleased simply obeying the royal family without resistance. And if the people who had been exiled to the outskirts of the country by the minister were to return, conflict was sure to arise.

In addition, the general who had spearheaded the defense against the empire was a former mercenary. If commoners continued to increase their prestige in the core of the country, which was formerly dominated by nobles, the two factions would surely end up clashing. Neighboring countries would also see an opportunity to take advantage of the confusion.

“We’re still just in the calm after the storm.”

The calm after the storm—it was nothing more than a short rest before the rest of the storm approached.

“I’d love to have a chance to meet this hero for myself.”

“Hero?” the woman asked in bewilderment, at which the man smirked.

“Yes, after defeating the empire and saving his country, and since he has golden hair like the Prince of Light, the people are referring to him as the Hero of Light in honor of his achievements.”

In the castle town was a tavern famous for its thick steaks covered with a secret sauce. In a corner of this tavern a man was enjoying his first day off in a long time, as he sat with the famous steak and a drink in front of him. With short, blue-gray hair, eyes of the same color, and an unshaven beard, his outward appearance did not stand out among the other townspeople. However, this man was actually none other than the Undefeated General Heath Blaydes, who only recently had managed to drive away the imperial forces.

Heath took a sip from his drink, thrust his fork into the steak, and brought it to his mouth. As he stuffed his cheeks with the meat, the fragrant sauce filled his mouth, and the taste of both danced upon his tongue with each bite. As he savored the meal, he was also enjoying a taste of happiness for the first time in a long while.

“Ah... This is bliss. I don’t think it’s possible to be happier than this,” he muttered to himself as he took another sip of his drink. He was drunk on both alcohol and happiness.

And then, someone suddenly approached him.

“Heath, kept you waiting, huh?”

The man who addressed him was a mercenary. His muscular physique, large arms, and many scars indicated that he was a battle-hardened warrior. With his chiseled face and fierce appearance, the people of the tavern took great care not to look him in the eye.

Heath, however, simply held up his mug as he chuckled.

“Sorry, I got started without you!”

“So I see. I’ll have what he’s having!” the man yelled in the direction of the counter. After hearing the bartender reply, he sat down in the chair opposite from Heath.

A waiter soon came by the table with the man’s steak and drink, and the man started gulping it down.

“Gotta say, I never expected you to do something like that,” Heath muttered, observing the man. “I thought you hated nobles.”

So the man had always said back when they’d been mercenaries together. Since they had both started around the same time, they had ended up cooperating a fair amount when taking on requests. While Heath had changed careers to enlist with the army, the man had stayed a mercenary, eventually becoming the guildmaster. Though they had taken different paths in life, they were still close enough to go out and drink together whenever their days off aligned.

“Still hate ’em,” the guildmaster replied.

“Huh? Then why’d you do it?” Heath asked in surprise, stopping as he was about to take a sip from his drink.

The fierce-looking guildmaster went quiet for a moment in a rare display of hesitation before averting his gaze.

“The young master helped me once. Don’t ask.”

“Young master, eh?” Heath said suggestively, but did as asked and did not pry further. Apparently, the man was close enough to the prince to call him “young master.”

The guildmaster seemingly took issue with Heath’s tone and shot him a sharp glance.

“What about you, then? You seem to have taken quite a liking to the young master yourself.”

The man knew that after he had returned from the expedition, the usually lazy Heath had actually been working on the prince’s orders.

“For how much you hate making any kind of effort, you’ve sure been taking on a lot of menial tasks lately.”

Heath shrugged his shoulders and took a gulp from his drink.

Ever since the minister had died, the country had started to change in various ways. One of the first steps had been to purge the corrupt nobles and officials that had so far gone overlooked. Those who had been surreptitiously lining their pockets until now were arrested one after another and made to face the full force of the law. Some had attempted to flee, but Heath and his men had captured them on the orders of the royal family.

As a result, Heath had been forced to work for three weeks straight, and today was his first day off after returning to the capital. Apparently there would also be large-scale personnel changes to fill the now-vacant spots, as well as radical changes to the way in which the country was governed overall. Heath was terrified of returning to work tomorrow.

“Well... It’s my job.”

“Yeah?” The guildmaster chuckled at Heath trying to avoid the subject, as he put a slice of steak into his mouth. He chewed carefully before swallowing, and then opened his mouth again. “Wonder what’s gonna become of this country.”

“Beats me.”

In response to Heath’s curt reply, the fierce-looking man furrowed his brow so deeply that any normal child would have started crying at the sight.

“Not interested, huh? I thought you were one of those fancy-schmancy generals.”

“I only ended up a general by accident. I just get all this annoying work forced on me. Well, the pay’s decent, at least. Pretty much the only good thing about becoming a general is that I get to buy more expensive cigarettes and liquor,” Heath added as he raised his mug.

“Well, as long as the prince is around, I guess things will probably turn out okay.”

The guildmaster picked up his own mug with a smirk, and they both emptied their mugs.

She found herself in the place people referred to as the Garden Above, a world of everlasting spring brimming with light and abundant greenery. With dark skin, eyes of two different colors, and straight hair the color of amethyst, she walked down the white stone path that led away from a great temple. Her mouth was covered by a thin veil, but even so it was clear that she was exceedingly beautiful. The woman was clad in a revealing dancer’s attire, and her impressive chest bounced with every step she took.

This woman was the djinn referred to as the Oracle—or alternatively the Eternal Witch. On both sides of the path heavenly flowers bloomed in all colors, upon which countless butterflies danced. She knew, however, that these were not mere insects, but souls that had simply taken on the form of butterflies.

Souls would rest here in this world to regain their strength while their memories were purified before being reincarnated in their next life. This was the purification system and the circulatory system of the world—as well as the home of the gods. As a djinn, she was able to visit this world as she pleased.

As she walked down the path, she arrived at a gazebo built from white stone. Inside, someone was sitting on a chair, similarly carved from white stone, while looking up at the blue, cloudless yet sunless sky.

“It’s been a while, Ferris,” the Eternal Witch said to the person sitting upon the stone chair.